


With the Lights Out, It's Less Dangerous

by metaphasia



Category: Revenge (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 18:48:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metaphasia/pseuds/metaphasia





	With the Lights Out, It's Less Dangerous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [executrix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/executrix/gifts).



Nolan normally hated limos; they were too large to maneuver comfortably, too unnecessarily ostentatious. He preferred a sturdy truck, since they were practical, comfortable, and reminded him of home, just as he preferred jeans and a hoodie to the tuxedo he was now wearing. He just wasn't comfortable with the showmanship that most people with money seemed to feel was necessary. But if there was ever a time for ostentation, this was it. He'd always been bored by the way that the upper crust managed to turn money into a competition, and it was only getting worse. The fact that people could do the things that they had to David, to his own father (of the mind if not of blood), only made him despise people even more. The one downside to Nolcorp's success was that becoming a multimillionaire before you turned thirty meant that you didn't have much left to reach for. The future couldn't possibly be as impressive as his past had been.  
Nolan's thoughts came to a halt as the limo did directly in front of the entrance. Despite knowing   
that there was nothing to worry about tonight, he still felt jittery. Showtime, he thought, as the driver opened his door.  
Now that he was on stage as it were, he was much more confident, all smiles and nods as he walked into the building, under the banner that read "WELCOME BACK CLASS OF 1992".

\---

Of all the people that graduated from Irving High School, Nolan was the most successful, by a factor of at least five thousand times. They hadn't had a "Least Likely to Succeed" category in their yearbook, but even if they had, Nolan wouldn't have been chosen for it. He had been too focused on computers to make any sort of an impression on the rest of the school to get voted into any position in their yearbook. In fact, he had been in only one photo in the yearbook besides his own portrait; the club photo for the at the time fledgling computer club. It was a lot bigger now, both since computers had really taken off, and because of a rather generous donation from himself. But whoever had decided to do the decorating had drudged up that club photo, and his yearbook portrait, to create a small shrine to "Irving's Most Successful Graduate" in one corner.

The night had been incredibly awkward so far, with everyone giving Nolan a huge berth. Between his unprecedented success in life, and his not having been close to anyone when they had walked through the halls of this school the first time, most people came up to him to introduce themselves, but then walked away after only a few sentences, when they realized they had had nothing in common in high school, and no reason to catch up now.

He came back here for revenge. To show all the people who had ignored him that they had been foolish to do so, that he was worth paying attention to. But the enormity of his success had led to him being just as much of an outcast the second time through these halls as the first. And, in retrospect, it was kind of foolish to want revenge on these people. They had only been kids when they had ignored him. After seeing what those excuses for humanity had done to David, he knew what evil really looked like. The people surrounding him had only been petty.

\---

He's zoning out staring at the Wall Of Nolan when he hears a familiar voice behind him say, "Bit for your thoughts?"

He can't help the smirk that comes to his face when he hears the old joke, and turns around to face Lucas for the first time in almost ten years. Lucas had been one of the three people in the photo on the wall behind them, one of Nolan's only real friends from his time in high school.

"Oh, you know. The usual. Plotting world domination," he says, as lightly as he can.

"Really? Last I heard, you'd already achieved that."

He tips his drink to Lucas. "Close enough. But you've obviously got me at a bit of a disadvantage. What have you been up to?"

"You're looking at it. After I graduated from State, I wound up back here and started teaching," Lucas says as he shrugs. "It's not nearly as glamorous as what you wound up with, but it's fulfilling."

Nolan and Lucas had been very similar back in high school, but Nolan had gotten accepted to MIT, and Lucas had wound up going to a local college, and that was where their paths had diverged. Nolan had always had a bit of a crush on Lucas, and the years had been kind to him. Where they had both been thin and scraggly ten years ago, Lucas had filled out with muscle.

"What exactly is it that they have you teaching here? Gym?" Nolan teased, as he poked Lucas in his bicep.

"Physics, actually. But I am coach of the Irving High Icebergs boys basketball team, you know," Lucas said.

Nolan let out a wistful sigh. "I always had a thing for basketball players. Too bad you never had that side back when we were in high school together. Things could have been more interesting."

There was suddenly a wicked glint in Lucas' eyes.  
\---

They stumbled through the halls, partly because they were drunk, partly because they were too busy fumbling at each other's clothes. They had never gotten together in high school, but they're making up for it with a vengeance now, frantic, urgent. Later, Nolan will only be able to remember flashes; the way Lucas managed to unlock the door while pressed against it, the way that his belt stuck and wouldn't come undone, so Lucas simply reached under it.

Afterwards, as he sat in the dark in a science classroom in his old school, as the first light of day washed away the night, Nolan thought that the future might be quite interesting, indeed.


End file.
